Why Your Digital Marketing Needs a Foundation Before Social Media

Don’t Start with the Flower Pots

In the age of instant gratification, social media can feel like the easiest way to “do marketing.” It’s visual. It’s fast. It’s where everyone seems to be. And for many businesses, it’s often where they want to start. Somehow, you feel like you’ve accomplished something with a few good social media posts or video clips.

And the social media content may be great and engaging…

But here’s the truth: jumping straight into social media without an overarching digital marketing strategy is like planting flowers outside a house that you haven’t built yet, or that is in desperate need of a renovation. The house might look good from the street—momentary curb appeal—but there’s no structure to sustain it, nothing meaningful beyond the front door, and no room to guide your visitors into.

Nice House. No Furniture.

In other words: nice house, no furniture.

As a digital marketer, writer, editor and social media strategist, I’ve worked with countless businesses who have been eager to “just get going” on Instagram, LinkedIn or TikTok. I get it. Social media is appealing. But without a clear destination or thoughtful intent about where to send your audience—or a system to measure the impact and nurture leads—you are simply spinning your wheels (and likely burning cash).

The Problem: Social Media in a Vacuum

To be clear: social media alone is not a strategy.

Social media is a tactic. A tool. A channel. It’s not the reason people buy. It’s not where loyalty is built on its own. It’s just the front door. And if there's no welcoming home behind it—no content ecosystem, no lead capture strategy, no compelling brand story—people knock, see no one’s home and move on.

Nice house, no furniture.

Starting with social media because it "seems easy" is like building the roof before you’ve laid a single brick.

So how can you make that great social media content work for you?

The Foundation: What Should Come First

Before you even consider a hashtag or a Reel – or whether you should be on TikTok because your competitor is there – you need to get a thoughtful strategy in place:

1. Your Goals
   What are you trying to achieve? Brand awareness, lead generation, conversions, community building? Social media without a defined objective (and a means to an end) is like archery without a target.

2. Your Audience
   Who are you speaking to? What do they care about? Where do they hang out online, and how do they like to be engaged?

3. Your Message and Value Proposition
   Why should people care? What are you offering that’s unique, timely and relevant?

4. Your Digital Hub
   This could be your website, a landing page, a blog, or a resource center (or very likely all of these)—somewhere to send people who find you via social media. This hub should be optimized, user-friendly and built to convert interest into action.

5. Your Content Strategy
   What are you saying, how often are you saying it, and in what format? Your content should guide the journey from awareness to trust to action. (This should come before you can even utter the phrase SEO).

6. Your Measurement Plan
   How are you tracking success? UTM links, Google Analytics, heatmaps, marketing qualified leads (MQLs), CRM integrations—whatever the tools, make sure your efforts are measurable from day one.

All of these points make logical sense, but the reality in many cases is that often the work has not been done to quantify and document this continuum. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it does have to be done. When it isn’t done, that’s when your social media isn’t working as hard for you as it should be.

The Role of Social Media in a Digital Marketing Strategy

Once your foundation is in place, then it is time to think about acting on social media in a more meaningful way. Not as the star of the show, but as a smart distribution channel. It should reflect your strategy, not define it. I often use the octopus analogy. If your hub is the body of the octopus, social media is one of the tentacles – reaching far to draw in your audience to the centre.

There are many thoughtful ways to use social media in marketing:

• Share content that links back to your hub

• Build community and credibility

• Humanize your brand

• Funnel traffic in a trackable, intentional way

Start with Strategy First. Always.

The most effective marketing doesn’t just look good: it functions. It is built with thoughtful intent, not just activity for the sake of being present. Being present on social media is (usually) better than not being there at all, but being present is the bare minimum and not what a strategy should aim to do as end.

As digital marketers, we owe it to our company, our business, our clients (and ourselves) to champion strategy before trend-chasing. Social media will always evolve and change. Your digital foundation is what allows you to adapt to these changes without losing focus or direction.

So before you spend too much time or money to make the flower pots out front look pretty, ask yourself: is the house behind them worth visiting?

By Mike Belobradic.